As a global investigative reporter for The Associated Press (AP), Michael Biesecker ’96 often reflects on a quote by a fictional bartender named Mr. Dooley, who was invented in 1893 by author Finley Peter Dunne as part of a humor column in the Chicago Evening Post. Mr. Dooley is noted for saying  “The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”

This sentiment has resonated with Biesecker throughout his journalism career as he’s covered topics like warfare, political corruption and climate change. In 2025 he and a team of Associated Press reporters produced a series of stories titled “Made in America, Watched Worldwide,” which won a Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting last month. Biesecker was the lead writer for an article about how American technology firms are selling the Israeli military artificial intelligence (AI) models and cloud computing services that are being used for mass surveillance of Palestinians and bomb targeting in Gaza and Lebanon.

“When you’re doing projects of this scope, nobody does them alone,” Biesecker said. “I’m part of a larger team within the AP, and we have people all over the globe working on these sorts of projects.”

In the case of his story for the Pulitzer-winning project, while Biesecker researched and interviewed sources in Washington, D.C., his colleagues were also pressing big tech companies in San Francisco and Israel Defense Forces leaders in Jerusalem for answers.

“It’s good to have work recognized,” Biesecker said of the award, “but it’s better to do work worthy of recognition.” 

From Opinion Columns to the Front Page

A native of Lexington, North Carolina, Biesecker got his start in the newspaper industry as a reporter, columnist, opinion section editor and cartoonist for the Technician student newspaper at NC State. However, his first taste of breaking news reporting came when he interned at his hometown newspaper, the Lexington Dispatch. He was sent to cover a political fundraiser at a local artist’s home, but a routine assignment developed into a much larger story when the county sheriff — who was a member of the opposite political party — set up a DWI checkpoint at the end of the driveway where the fundraiser was being held. To provide coverage of this unexpected turn of events, Biesecker spoke with police at the checkpoint and with guests who were being stopped on suspicion of drunk driving as they left the event. The resulting story he published made headlines across the state and was even picked up by the AP newswire. 

Despite garnering immediate recognition as an investigative reporter, Biesecker spent the first several years of his career working as a columnist for the Winston-Salem Journal. Next he moved back to Raleigh and got his dream job with the News & Observer, and he started doing more investigative journalism. After making a name for himself with front-page stories across North Carolina, the AP hired him in 2011. He also contributed to a team at the AP that won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2023 for its reporting on the Russia-Ukraine War, and was a finalist two other times.

In addition to his vast reporting experience, Biesecker spent time as a board member for the NC State Student Media Authority and has been an adjunct professor at NC State and Georgetown University. 

“One of the things I always tell my students is that whatever beat you’re on in the newsroom, treat it like an investigative beat,” he said. “You should always look for the larger story and keep in mind that accountability piece. If there’s a new policy being announced, look who’s pushing for it and who lobbied for it. Following the money is a tried-and-true way to break news.”

Part of an Exclusive Group

With this recent recognition, Biesecker joins an exclusive club of people with NC State ties who’ve been recognized by the Pulitzer Prizes, including Andrew Carter ’03, who was also a recipient of U.S. journalism’s highest honor last month for his team’s reporting work for the Chicago Tribune. 

Past recipients include Dan Neil (M.A. English Literature ’86), who received the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in Criticism for his automobile review columns in the Los Angeles Times. In addition, Sylvia Adcock ’81 was part of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Reporting in 1997 for Newsday‘s coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800 in New York. 

Other past finalists have included Chris Hondros ’93, who was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Photography in 2004 for his work in Liberia. In 2020, Dorianne Laux, English professor emeritus and former Creative Writing Program director, was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Poetry for her work Only as the Day Is Long: New and Selected Poems.